


Playing It By Ear

by hgleiser



Series: Wrong Direction [8]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Music, First Kiss, Love Confessions, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 20:19:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7375987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hgleiser/pseuds/hgleiser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico seeks advice from Jenson about admitting his feelings for Lewis...and completely ignores it in the best way possible.  As always, a thousand thanks to L. and A. for the beta/patience in waiting on this update(from my shiny new laptop!).  Rated G for admittedly cutesy ending but these days I think we could all use some shameless fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Playing It By Ear

"Can I come in?" Nico poked his head around the half-open door to Lewis's room and smiled nervously, fighting every instinct to turn around and pretend he'd never resolved to "get it over with and tell him already".

_At least that's what Jenson told me to do,_ he thought.  _Whether I can is a different story._

"Of course." Lewis adjusted his glasses and made a few marks on the sheet music spread across the top of his piano. "What's going on?"

_Oh, nothing. I'm just about to make what could be the biggest possible mistake of my life if I've misread our friendship for the past several months. No big deal._

 

***

 

Telling Lewis the truth had sounded like a good idea a few days ago...but then again so had asking Jenson of all people for advice. When Nico had accosted him outside the bathroom having had the startling realization that his morning coffee was the exact color of Lewis's eyes, Jenson's grin had been much more annoyingly knowing than usual.

"Step into my office," he'd said, making a grand gesture as Nico walked past him into his room and locking the door behind them. "What's up?"

"I think I'm in love with Lewis." Nico sat on the corner of Jenson's bed, hugging Buttons to his chest. "Help."

"Think? Mate, it's written all over your face when you're on stage next to him. He puts his arm round you and you light up. It's sweet, really."

"If this is your idea of being helpful I'm leaving."

"As a matter of fact, it is. I'm going to sit here..." Jenson took his place next to Nico on the bed. "...and state the obvious until you get it through your bloody thick skull. You love him. End of story."

"I said I  _think_ , not I  _know_ . There's a difference."

"Maybe at some point there was but there isn't one now. What's got you worried about it anyway?"

"Jense, have you ever been in love?"

Jenson stared out the window, watching birds fly in and out of a nearby tree, and smiled to himself picturing Sebastian beside him with his camera at the ready. "A few times I fooled myself into thinking I was. As for the real thing, only once."

"Then you know what this is like. You're never sure of how the other person feels until you ask and until you do it could go either way."

Jenson nodded. "You hope for the best and all the while prepare for the worst. When they say yes you're so relieved..."

"Exactly!" Nico exclaimed. "I knew you'd understand."

"...when they say no you're devastated and start contemplating whether or not life as a Tibetan monk is a less complicated experience."

"Thanks for bringing the mood down significantly."

Jenson patted Nico's shoulder. "I try. But that, my friend, is exactly why you need to go find Lewis and tell him. You need an answer. May I suggest 'roses are red, violets are blue, I'm deeply in love so let me shag you'?"

"You'd have better luck trying that out on Seb," Nico retorted, scrunching his nose as he laughed at the blush spreading rapidly across Jenson's face. "It'd probably work."

"I'll have you know that I have more dignity and class than that."

"Meaning drink first, shag later."

"Drinking, snuggling,  _then_ shagging. Not on the first date either. What d'you take me for?" 

"Okay, okay," groaned Nico, "you're a gentleman after all. Now come on, I need honest advice. How do I tell him?"

"Say you've always felt close to him and lately you've wanted more if he's interested. You feel like the both of you might be ready to take that step into a relationship. Snogging him is optional, but if it leads to that, well..." Jenson chuckled. "The rest is up to you."

Nico felt his heart race at the thought.  _One thing at a time_ , he reminded himself.  _Take it slowly and it it's meant to be it will happen. If it's not...I'll deal with it somehow. That's what long drives through the countryside and wine are for._

"Easier said than done. Do I get a refund if he refuses?"

"Afraid not." Jenson reached over to pat Buttons on the head and stroked his threadbare ears. "All advice is to be taken with a massive grain of salt and the user assumes liability for any accidents caused. Good thing I don't charge fifty quid an hour for this kind of work."

"Who else has been to see you? I'm curious."  _Lewis in particular._

Jenson mimed zipping his mouth closed. "I'm not at liberty to say."

"Patient confidentiality?"

"You got it. And I'm afraid your fifty-minute hour is up."

Nico placed Buttons back against Jenson's pillow, carefully tucking the sheets back around his front legs just the way he'd found him. "It's not even been that long."

"I just felt like saying that to make the experience more realistic." Jenson got up, opened the door wide, and winked. "Go get 'em. Get it over with and tell him already."

Nico wiped his suddenly sweaty palms on his jeans and swallowed the lump in his throat. "Today?" he choked out. "I need time to think, maybe plan this a little more than walking into Lewis's room and telling him I've dreamed about him three nights in a row..."

Moving to stand in front of him, Jenson took Nico's hands in his own and pulled him up off the bed. "No time like the present!"

"Jense..."

Jenson let go waved dismissively. "Go on. I'll see you for another appointment next week and you can tell me all about it then. Cheers."

"You're a great friend but an equally great pain in the ass, you know that?"

"That's what they all say. Good luck!"

Nico groaned, swearing under his breath in German as he closed the door and walked downstairs to the kitchen.  _Today? Scheisse, this is going to require a little liquid courage first._

 

***

 

"Oh, I just wanted to..."  _Tell you how much I care about you,_ he thought, tasting the words on the tip of his tongue and biting them back. "...see how the songwriting was coming."

Lewis patted the piano bench and smiled. "I've been working on a cover."

“Not another Adele song...” teased Nico as he sat down.

“Look, man, don’t knock the new album until you’ve heard it. It’s incredible.” Lewis stretched his fingers then began playing, the music flowing more smoothly than Nico had managed after years of practice with his grandmother as a child as he watched in awe. “I haven’t learned all the words yet.” 

“I’ll follow along.” What he lacked in piano skills he more than made up for in his ability to learn new melodies after a few listens and soon he was quietly singing in Lewis’s ear, cautious in finding each note and anticipating the next until he felt he understood where they led. “When the pain cuts you deep and the night keeps you from sleeping, just look and you will see I will be your remedy...”

“Beautiful,” Lewis glanced at him with a dazzling smile. “You got this.”

“Lewis, I...I can’t put this off any longer.” Nico stammered, shifting uncomfortably on the edge of the bench. “There’s something I need to say and to be honest if I don’t say it now I’ll regret coming in here right now for the rest of my life.”

Ignoring an as yet unresolved chord, Lewis reached for Nico’s hand as was his usual gesture to calm his best friend down when he was nervous or upset, and looked concerned when he gave it a tight squeeze before letting go.

“I’m not sure I can just be friends with you anymore.”

“What are you talking about, man? We’ve been like this from the start. Remember how Toto used to yell at us to go to sleep when we’d stay up talking on the plane? We ate pizza and found places to go karting on our days off. Nothing’s changed, Nico. We agreed it wouldn’t.”  _Everything’s going to stay the same,_ he thought, trying to reassure himself.  _For my sake and yours._ He pushed the sleeve of his jacket up to reveal the thin black and burgundy braided cord bracelet he had scarcely stopped wearing since Nico had bought it for him on their first visit to India the year before. “That’s the proof.”

Nico placed his own wrist, around which was wrapped the same bracelet in white and teal, next to Lewis’s and chewed on his trembling lower lip. “Then consider this me breaking our agreement.”

“Don’t do this to me, Nico.” Lewis swallowed the sudden lump in his throat and took a deep breath, his voice straining to stay unbroken. “Don’t say another word.”

“That’s not what I meant--”  _Scheisse, he thinks I’m calling everything off. Could I have put it in worse terms?_

“If that’s what you’ve come here to tell me, I don’t want to hear it.”

Summoning what little resolve he had left, Nico cupped Lewis’s chin in his hand and tilted his face slightly upward, bringing their mouths together for a kiss that lasted until his nerves gave out again. “You don’t have to. I’ve told you now.”

“You...you love me.” Lewis murmured against his lips. “For how long?”

“Long enough for it to have kept me up at night.”

_I know how that feels._ “Why now?”

“Couldn’t stand to keep it a secret anymore...and I might have taken advice from Jenson, though by now I’ve done the opposite. Kissing you first wasn’t planned.”

Lewis couldn’t help smiling. “He told me to just go with whatever because he figured you’d be too nervous to make that kind of first move. Guess he was wrong. Still, he’s not bad for an agony aunt. Sometimes I think he’s all of our mums, sitting there with his tea handing out advice we don’t think we need until we do.”

“Hey, someone has to look after Seb!”

Both of them burst into laughter, the tension broken at last until Nico’s giggles trailed off and he found himself studying Lewis’s face, imagining the many kisses it would be covered in before long and feeling lightheaded in a way he was sure he could get used to.  _I love you, Lewis,_ he thought.  _I love you when we argue. I love you when we make up. You’re the most annoying and amazing man I’ve ever met, but I wouldn’t have anyone else. If that was about us, then I’ll be your remedy just as you’re being mine._

“What are you thinking about?”

Nico chewed on his lower lip, trying to think of a white lie but none came. “It’s too embarrassing to admit.”

“You’ve already been brave once.” Lewis leaned in and kissed his temple. “Who’s to say you can’t be again?”

“Fine, fine...this is—that was—our song.”

Lewis grinned, wrapping an arm around Nico’s waist. “Awwww, Nico, that’s sweet.”

“Shut up, Lewis.”

The grin widened considerably. “Make me.”

Nico cupped Lewis’s chin in his hand and turned his face toward his own, eyes alight with the thought of kissing his boyfriend until they were both breathless. “Gladly.”


End file.
